New 'Battle of Britain'books series from Wingleader.

[Airframes]

The Battle of Britain Combat Archive.

'Wingleader', publishers of the excellent 'Luftwaffe Crash Archive' series of volumes, have just announced the future publication of their new series of ten volumes, title as above, which will be available as of the 15th September, and can be pre-ordered now.
Similar in format to the LCA books, each volume covers a specific period, commencing on 10th July 1940, and covers each day of combat, with descriptions, maps, photos, combat reports and personal accounts, as well as colour profiles relevant to that day, plus a page or more of colour profiles.
Announced as the most important work on the BoB in over 30 years, since the publication of 'The Battle of Britain - Then and Now', each volume is priced at £25, or, if pre-ordered, or succeeding volumes ordered direct on-line, at £20 per volume, plus shipping.
From what I've seen so far, this is a set not to be missed, with excellent content and layout, and should prove very useful for modellers, 'arm-chair historians' and anyone with a more than passing interest in the Battle. I'll certainly be ordering them.

Further (illustrated) details can be found on the their web-site at Wing Leader | Aviation Books and Collectables

 

[Wayne Little]

Thanks for the heads up Terry!

Hopefully will have LCA 7 soon...

 

[Airframes]

You're welcome Wayne.

 

[stona]

Already have LCA7 and it's exactly what you'd expect from the previous 6...very good. It's an expensive collection of booklets but well worth it in my opinion. The pain is eased by not having to stump up for the whole lot in one go!
When you see the crazy prices some references go for these days it's not so bad. I have many of those now ludicrously overpriced books myself and am seriously considering insuring them as a separate valuable item on my household insurance. I've seen books that I bought for 20-30 quid going for several hundred and regularly three times what I paid.

I've ordered the first BoB Combat Archive. If it arrives before I have to leave to work away again I'll give a quick opinion. If not, it'll be about six weeks before I get my sweaty paws on it

Cheers

Steve

 

[Airframes]

I agree with you Steve - the series is a tad expensive, but well worth it, especially considering the amount of research and work involved in their production.
As for the value of books on my shelves, like you, I'm considering having them insured separately. It was only a week or so ago that I did a quick 'visual' valuation, at an average 'cover price', and estimate I have in excess of £5,000 worth.
I need to do a proper audit, as that value could, and probably will be, higher - and that's before considering today's 'asking' price for some of the volumes which, as you say, have gone crazy in some instances !
I'm about to pre-order the first volume of the BoB Combat Archive, so with luck it should arrive shortly after 15th September.

 

[stona]

I agree with you Steve - the series is a tad expensive, but well worth it, especially considering the amount of research and work involved in their production.

Yes. It's what you are paying for. Also this sort of thing is never going to sell hundreds of thousands of copies so the limited number of people who are interested enough to invest in them have to make it worthwhile for someone else to do the research and collate all the information for them. That means paying a reasonable price. Anyone who has done any research themselves will know just how time consuming it can be.

I know a couple of people who have authored books of this nature and it is always a labour of love rather than a means to getting rich in any case. I very much doubt that anyone will be retiring anytime soon on the income from the LCA series

Cheers

Steve

 

[Airframes]

Yep, definitely a labour of love, for those like-minded enthusiasts, by enthusiasts and artists. Just one or two pages of one volume must have taken a heck of a lot of time and effort, just to collect the data, reports and photos, collate them, and design, write and produce the layout.
Fantastic effort by all concerned, and well worth paying for.
And as you mentioned, as they're divided into ten volumes, with a few months between publication of each, it eases the strain on the wallet somewhat. Imagine if they were all in one, single, hard-back volume - it's probably doubtful if a realistic price could be set, as £250 for a single volume would deter many potential buyers.